Dallas Cowboys Blog

Numbers show that trust level between Cowboys QB Tony Romo, WR Dez Bryant on the rise

IRVING – Say what you want about the trust level that Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo has in Dez Bryant, but the numbers show that Romo believes his enigmatic receiver is reliable.

That’s more evident this season than ever.

Over the last two games, Romo has targeted Bryant a combined 28 times. He threw Bryant’s way 13 times in the loss toChicagoand 15 times Sunday in the loss at Baltimore.

Romo has only targeted Miles Austin a combined 11 times over the last two games.

Only one time last season did Romo target Bryant more than nine times in a game and that was 14 passes Bryant’s way at Arizona in an overtime loss.

Romo trusts Bryant regardless of his issues this season with dropped passes – he and tight end Jason Witten lead the team with six apiece – and the fact that he made the wrong sight adjustment on a route in the Chicago game that led to an interception that was returned for a touchdown.

If Romo didn’t have trust in Bryant, he wouldn’t have thrown the two-point conversion pass to him in the final seconds of the loss toBaltimore.

That’s good news for the Cowboys going forward. They need Romo and Bryant to develop more chemistry to boost their offense, which has sputtered this season.

Bryant obviously has to be more consistent, however, to keep that trust level high with Romo. He can’t drop two-point conversion passes that will tie games in the final seconds. He can’t make wrong adjustments on routes and must always be in the right place for Romo to continue to throw his way on a consistent basis.

But the numbers show that Romo has developed more trust in Bryant, who is coming off his two best games this year – in terms of production – with a combined 21 catches for 200 yards and his first two touchdown receptions of the year Sunday atBaltimore.

When Romo led the Cowboys on an 18-play touchdown drive late in Sunday’s loss atBaltimore, he threw the same number of passes to Witten that he did to Bryant – five apiece – and you know how much trust Romo has inWitten.

That fifth pass to Bryant was caught for a four-yard touchdown. But, alas, he dropped the two-point conversion pass that would have tied the game.

But don’t expect Romo to turn his back on Bryant on Sunday at Carolina. He certainly didn’t do that after Bryant’s route gaffe against Chicago.